Facebook haunted by mild-mannered specter

Greenspan persists with claims as site's originator; no remedy to silence him

By

JohnLetzing

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Aaron Greenspan, an amiable young entrepreneur, toils a mere 15-minute walk south of the Palo Alto, Calif., offices of Facebook Inc., where he's forging something of a cottage industry out of needling the current darling of Silicon Valley.

Facebook, a relatively new social-networking site, has nonetheless been valued at $15 billion by investors. The site drew 123.9 million unique visitors in May -- more than twice the number drawn in the same month a year earlier, according to comScore Inc.

In addition, Facebook recently closed the door on years of troublesome litigation with the founders of ConnectU Inc., who unsuccessfully claimed that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg stole their ideas and code.

Greenspan, who presents similar claims to have had an uncredited role in Facebook's origins, said he has no intention of suing the company. He has, however, plunged into a quixotic and surprisingly adept legal effort to challenge the company's registered trademark. In addition, he's using the experience of publicly criticizing Facebook to inform his own startup.

Greenspan presents a different and potentially more aggravating sort of challenge for Facebook than the founders of ConnectU, who have been legally barred from disparaging the company, according to terms of a settlement. That's because although Greenspan too has garnered media attention blemishing Facebook and Zuckerberg's image, no direct legal remedies are available to silence him.

For example, Greenspan said that he's distributed roughly half of the initial 1,000 copies of his book "Authoritas" in its first month of availability. The book is a recounting of his time at Harvard University as a contemporary of Zuckerberg -- and of "how he invented the Facebook," according to his Web site.

While Greenspan, 25, wades into a particularly nuanced corner of the law to pursue the trademark case, he is also using the challenges encountered in distributing his tell-all book to develop his startup, which he says will be aimed at business customers.

"I learned a lot in this process ... about distribution channels and the existing ways manufactured products get to market," Greenspan said. The startup is an evolution of Think Computer Corp., a business Greenspan originally hatched as a teenager. It will provide Web-based logistics, contact management and -- of course -- social networking, he added.

But for a frenetic young entrepreneur known only as Facebook's most vocal antagonist, navigating the local venture-capitalist scene in an effort to secure funding has been tricky. "When they hear it's a 10-year-old, one-person startup, that's when they get confused," Greenspan said. "I'm always talking to investors, but they're always not sure what to make of me."

'Rather uncommon'

Pressing for the cancellation of a trademark is a difficult legal maneuver even for seasoned lawyers, according to Henry Sneath, a patent and trademark attorney with Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton P.C. in Pittsburgh.

Most challenges to trademarks are made soon after they're first issued, Sneath said. In Facebook's case, that was well before Greenspan filed his challenge in April of this year.

While it isn't advisable for a someone who isn't a lawyer to pursue such a case, Sneath added, Greenspan has made an impressive stab at it. "This guy Greenspan is no ordinary pro se petitioner and seems to have expertise in trademark litigation," he commented. "These are difficult issues, so to understand the laws and express them coherently and put together your proof is very hard, while a company like Facebook would have infinite resources to fight it."

'Writing legal documents is kind of like coding.'

Greenspan said that he hasn't consulted lawyers for his dispute with Facebook, though he's had some experience in trademark cases. During his college days, he pursued a similar case against H. Co. Computer Products with assistance from a law firm.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.